My Amazon Vine experience, part 1 - Getting In 

This is really good info- a lot of people don't know about the no-selling and how strict that is, and I can't say how but I do know multiple people who lost out being in the Vine program for selling items on other market places, and some were marked or variations that can be pointed out. Vine looks like a free-for-all because people don't take the "no selling" part seriously and are clueless about the tax liabilities they rack up, and all that before they even realize how time consuming leaving the reviews is. This is a really good and balanced explanation, Part 1 & Part 2 combined. This channel is great for anyone new to Vine, how it's fun, but also how you didn't really hit the Jackpot like it sounds, either. Subscribed in case you do any more Vine videos. 👍

This series has been an excellently detailed and intellectual exploration of the subject matter. I have just been selected as a "Vine Voice" only days ago and out the gate I began ordering my limit of stuff daily. But for something like this, which is too good to be true I instinctively knew I had to seek out all that I can find about this situation in order to maximize this experience and not mess it up. You have done a fine job of covering many important aspects of this. I liked the one tip of finding private groups.

What was the email specifically? Just from amazon or did it say Vine in it? Thank you for all the details!!

I had no idea there was a vine program and that it could be so life changing! It was interesting to hear some details of how it works. I'm so glad your family was able to get so many basics to ease things after years of struggle. I can think of a few other families I know that this would really help. Maybe someday! I'm going to listen to part two right now.

It is considered taxable income if you go over a certain threshold, so I stay below that maxed amount so I'm not sent a W2 form at the end of the year, not worth it for me to pay for big items that are overpriced and pay tax on them! That being said, sounds like you were starving for daily essential items and that's why this was such a huge blessing and glad you could get things you needed for your family! I have been poor in the past, single mom and totally understand about things you just cannot afford to buy, it stinks! Glad your now doing well, you are so sweet and down to earth, love your vibe and may things continue to get even better and only up from here!

Thank you for sharing! Can’t wait for part 2! It is awesome how impactful the program can be for people who need it

Delighted this happened for you. Thanks for sharing your experience. Best wishes

What happened to me is, I normally put reviews on Amazon, especially if my experience with the item is different than other reviewers. Then earlier this year I got an email from Amazon to join the Vine program. I clicked it, and as soon as I got to a page that required my SSN, I stopped and closed the page. I did not sign up. Fast forward to November, I did a review for an item I bought and the stupid Vine symbol was next to my account name. I edited my review to say that I am not in the vine program, that I paid for the item and my review was not bias. So now I am trying to find out how to opt out, hence I found your RU-vid videos.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Can you tell me approx how many products you had ordered before you got invited to Vine? I’m just trying to see if its worth it to buy and review products

I got picked a few months ago out of the blue. I've never heard of the program and was suspicious that it was a scam 😂. I only had like 13 reviews I had written in 8 or 9 years. Turns out, they must have noticed a disgruntled review with a quick video clip that I did a review on. My biggest pet peeve of the vine program is the LACK OF RULES listed anywhere! I'm basically going in blind with a lot of stuff. And I tried asking a question to the vine admins about (if a person I did a poor review on due to a faulty product was allowed to contact me through the 3rd party safety email program) and it was like pulling teeth. I keep being given the sparse "rule book" or they completely misunderstood my question. And when I tried to reiterate the question, they got tired of me and said someone will contact you in 12 hours. That was near the beginning of the month. But mostly, I really like being a reviewer. I take a lot of pride in trying to fully use the products I pick and making sure I do pros and cons. I also pick things I want to use versus just getting it because I can.

I have a question you may know the answer to, Ive just agreed to be a vine reviewer, but keep getting an error, "There was a problem creating your request, Please choose another item" Is this something youve had? are we supposed to wait 24 hours before requesting products? or is it likely to be some other issue? PPS: i was ignoring the request from Amazon because i thought it was a scam, until i got the message again during a review. Great video by the way

Hello Heidi, thank you for your videos. I watched them with great interest as I find myself in the same prick but for Amazon Germany. After reading a lot around and documenting myself I can definitely say that there is a BIG problematic with the tax system. One point of view is that those items have a "fair market value" and you need to be taxed as income tax based on this amount. But this is exactly the point which is absolutely senseless and I will put here all the reasons why: 1. If you do a job for someone and you receive as a payment for return of service an IPad, or if you do a job for someone and receive a lot of IPads or other goods as payment, it is important to note that there was a service and a payment in goods involved. In that case there would be an agreement from your side that you receive these goods as payment for your work. In that case I could understand the validity of an income tax. But in the case of Vine items to be tested this is not the case. I will explain below. 2. The item to be tested cannot be compared the same as the same item to be purchased. They cannot be considered as equivalent. Why? A purchased item has a guarantee, and you can also can get full monetary refunds if you choose not to keep it. This is not the case for a vine item. A vine item cannot be returned and has no guarantee. Also you can only claim it IF 6 months has passed and you were not requested to return it. Also you are not allowed to disclose or publish this item on any blog or website. All these restrictions definitely mean that a test product does not have the same market value as a purchased item. It is therefore a mistake from Amazon to claim that these products have the same "Fair Market Value" as a purchased item. Now the next point. 3. When I test a product I actually break it open and I subject it to all types of knocks and blows to check how good it actually is. I try to check the material, I scratch it etc. That is the whole point of testing. It is like if you give me a test car and I need to drive it and force it to the maximum to test it and am not allowed to sell it and I can only keep it if the seller does not request it within 6 months, it has no guarantee and the item cannot be returned, there is just no way that this item after 6 months and after being pushed to the max for testing be worth the same value as a newly purchased item which has a guarantee and which can be returned. This is just common sense. Next point. 4. If I test a product and it is NO GOOD. It is good for the dustbin and I dont want to keep it and I cannot return it. Why on earth should I pay 35% of its value when I dont even own it within 6 months and when I dont want to keep it? Next point. 5. There are items that are clearly overpriced. I make the test and I write that this product is overpriced. Again why should I pay 35% of the claimed value of an item that I cannot return and which I think is overpriced? Next point. 6. Most of the items on vine are from unknown brands.Hence after 6 months their value is just a few Euros that someone would be willing to pay on flee markets. They have a low resale value. Overall this whole thing makes no sense. 7. Those Fair market value prices are the original price the sellers would like to sell those items. They dont represent the actual value of a test product under those conditions. Also those fair market values have already a tax included in them. So how can I pay tax on something which is already taxed? Hence it is double taxed? If this applies, this can only apply for a case which I described in point 1. Which in the vine testing program clearly is not the case. 8. What about all items that get broken during the test phase? What about items you would not consider keeping? For me it looks like you are making me pay an expensive fee for testing an item. This is what it is. This is a 35% fee just for testing an item which is absurd. How can someone who buys the actual real product pay less tax? Instead of getting paid for testing you need to pay to test. How ridiculous is it that in the lucky case that you manage to sell an item lets say for 40% of its value, including additionally 20% as tax of that value additionally as VAT, this means the tax you paid is more than the amount you could hopefully get from selling it. In reality therefore you have been taxed 100% if not more. And they call this income tax?? This is absolute BS! 9. Most of the items have only between 0-50% of the value after 6 months after undergoing the tests and under the condition of no returns and no guarantee. There is also a big issue, the items were needed to have zero cost to the tester for the reviews to be properly legit. But if you need to pay a tax, this puts you in a pressure not to degrade the product either because you need to keep it in a good state because you paid taxes for it or you want to sell it to gain cash back. It makes no sense. 10.For the reviews to be truly fair the reviewer should have not have to pay anything. Hence whatever tax to be paid must have been paid by Amazon. The deal is that I receive a free item and I give a review in exchange. Hence it should be considered as a gift. Not the other way around, where I give a review and I get the item as a payment for my service. Also Amazon should claim the Fair Market Value of that gift to be much less than a purchased item because of all the attached conditions of receiving that gift. I believe that Amazon is missleading or misinforming and mostly missrepresenting the Fair Market Value of these items. In the case of Amazon.de they published the tax to be paid only after a year that the people had enrolled. These values are not Fair at all. They do not represent the real value and the authorities cannot force anyone to pay taxes for items they do not want to keep and cannot return.

I'm a vine member! I can say it's partialy addictive and other has made me miserable, because it kills out all my time reviewing something properly, and creates a hoarder style home, filled with too much junk, I gave to charity, friends, family free stuff, I never sold any item, I kept stuff I needed, but I could buy the stuff that I really wanted. I never did get a computer, a tv, a treadmill, portable aircon unit, the things I really need the most that I can't afford, instead you get things like dust bins, air fans, screw drivers, equipment, tapes, scissors, knives, nails that sort of thing, you can get anything with cheap junk really. It be lucky you can get anything decent. At the end of the day I was still miserable, and now I'm filled with junk and miserable at the same time. If I used that time constructively I could make money in a job that could buy me a computer, aircon unit, and treadmill with more money left over. I believe the phrase don't get attached to material objects comes into play here, things ruin people's purity, this is why I gave most of my stuff away to charity and that's the only thing I thank Vine for helping me help others. These days you have to order a certain amount and review upto 90% of all your items within a time limit, this video is 1 year old and the rules are new, you have to review I believe it was 100 items and upto 90% of them within 6 months, and you can only give things out or sell after 6 months of your review that has been published, not after writing your review, it has to get published then 6 months later you can do whatever you want with the item.

Hi Heidi, Can you name a few of the online groups of people who are amazon vine voices? I have been one since 10/31/2022. I would love to connect with some of them. Thank you so much Janet

I got invited in August of this year. There is a bug in the Amazon Vine Program that's preventing my reviews from being submitted. I emailed them and so far, nothing has been done about it. Ordered 19 products and reviewed 18. Also unable to order Amazon Vine Products.

I've gotten good stuff and bad stuff. I saw one of your other videos that said we are to pay taxes, or might have to pay taxes, on stuff under $600. I did not know this. I will tell my tax advisor, I might have to pay back taxes on Vine products. Not looking forward to this.

My family buys stuff off Amazon sometimes mainly during Christmas time when we want something. So when we buy stuff it's like 1-3 items and I don't do Amazon reviews cause it's on my dad's Amazon account. But I have done reviews off other websites

I knew nothing about Vine until I got an invitation. I am looking into it because at first I thought it was a scam email. 😅. I recently signed up and starting to review some items. I did however shut off the green Vine User Review tag in the settings. It is a very nice group to be in. thanks for your info.

Hello Heidi; Congrats on participating in the Vine program. While it is cool, like Christmas everyday but be ware of the total $$ you get "charged" or 'Taxable Value'. You'll get your 1099-NEC statement and it is effectively treated as income which goes towards your total taxable income. So while items are "free" you will effectively pay 38+% in taxes so plan ahead. 🙂